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Swordmaster Healer (Web Novel) - Chapter 28: S-rank Healer Hunter (2)
Chapter 28: S-rank Healer Hunter (2)
This chapter is updated by NovelFree.ml
TL: Boko
Editor: Ren
It was now the day of the magic sword conferment ceremony. The Blue House* sent him a car, as well as people to escort him. (*The Blue House is the presidential residence. It’s equivalent to the White House in the U.S.)
Soo Hyuk’s condition had improved by a lot, but he still wasn’t in great condition, so he wouldn’t be able to accompany his son. Therefore, Sung Joon was the only one who went into the Blue House Secretary Office’s car.
Of course, Rishubalt accompanied him, but no one was able to discover his hidden attendant.
“We’ll depart now,” an attendant sitting in the front passenger seat said calmly. As soon as Sung Joon nodded his head, they departed.
The interior of the car was comfortable, and was equipped with cool beverages and simple snacks, so the journey to the Blue House was pleasant.
It wasn’t long before the car arrived at the Blue House.
The Blue House Administrator, a black-suited man with short hair, approached him and introduced himself as he opened the door, stating his name and his position.
“My name is Ahn Kyung Chul, and I’m the Administrator responsible for accompanying you today. I’ll be in your care.”
“My request has been properly relayed, correct?” Sung Joon asked.
“Of course. We have ordered that the unnecessary procedures are to be omitted, so the conferment ceremony will be over in a flash,” Kyung Chul nodded his head and replied.
When Sung Joon had disembarked from the car, Kyung Chul checked his wristwatch.
“Would you like to go to the waiting room immediately?”
“Is there even any other option?”
“There’s more time that I expected, so it’s possible for you to take a stroll around the Blue House if you’d like. The President has ordered that all areas are open to you, excluding the restricted areas,” Kyung Chul explained.
However, Sung Joon shook his head.
“It’s fine. Let’s go to the waiting room immediately.”
Sung Joon wasn’t curious about the Blue House. If he had spare time, he wanted to rest and browse Hunter.com with his phone in the waiting room.
“I understand. I’ll lead the way immediately.”
Kyung Chul lead Sung Joon to the waiting room. Though it was only for a single person, it was large enough to run around in.
There, Sung Joon put on a suit provided by the Blue House, and waited for the conferment ceremony.
“Mr. Kang Sung Joon!”
Had around thirty minutes passed? There was a light knock on the door, and Kyung Chul opened the door and came in. He checked his wristwatch and then opened his mouth, saying, “You must go to the conferment ceremony hall now.”
Sung Joon stood up from his seat, and walked together with Kyung Chul to the conferment ceremony hall.
‘There are more people than I thought.’
The conferment ceremony hall was extremely large, and invitees filled the seats. There was a balance of Hunters and ordinary civilians amongst the attendees.
The Hunters were interested parties from South Korea’s major guilds, and the ordinary civilians were either from major corporations or were government figures.
Sung Joon quickly scanned the attendees and his gaze stopped once he came across a familiar face.
‘Yoon Seol Ah…?’
It was Blue Dragon Group’s Yoon Seol Ah. She too noticed Sung Joon and waved her hand to him with a faint smile.
He put their short meeting behind him and the magic sword conferment ceremony began.
Because he had requested that they skip all the unnecessary procedures, the conferment ceremony progressed simply.
As soon as they finished with their speech, which recited his deeds, the President personally conferred the magic sword to Sung Joon.
“Though it’s a simple conferment ceremony, it seems to be quite significant,” the ever faithful apparition, Rishubalt, said from beside him.
There were several people around, so he couldn’t even nod his head, but Sung Joon agreed with him.
With the President bestowing the magic sword to him, Sung Joon officially became an S-rank Hunter; they were probably trying to remind him of his nationality, as well as reinforcing his sense of belonging to South Korea by making the President personally bestow the magic sword to him.
“There’s a banquet prepared. It can’t be helped if you’re busy, but if it’s possible, everyone would like for you to participate,” requested Kyung Chul.
The conferment ceremony was now over; Kyung Chul had come to find him.
“I’ll participate.”
Sung Joon readily nodded his head. That’s because he had heard from Team Leader Kim Hyun Sung prior that a banquet was a place for him to establish personal connections.
The invitees were mostly part of a certain organization or force. Therefore, if he became familiar with their faces, he thought it’d be helpful for him in the future.
“I’ll guide you to your prepared seat.”
Kyung Chul lead Sung Joon to the banquet outside. There were already a lot of people gathered. As soon as Sung Joon appeared at the banquet, despite not announcing his presence, all those gathered at the banquet focused on him.
He was the protagonist here.
“I’m over here.”
“We meet again, Mr. Kang Sung Joon.”
The Blue Dragon Group’s Yoon Seol Ah sat at the table that Kyung Chul had led him to. When she saw Sung Joon, she smiled and lightly greeted him.
Sung Joon didn’t know, but there had been a competition in order to secure a spot at his table, and ultimately, Seol Ah had won the competition.
“Congratulations on becoming an S-rank Hunter.”
As soon as Sung Joon sat down, Seol Ah congratulated him.
“Thank you.”
“There’ll soon be some annoying developments,” Seol Ah said. Sung Joon smiled faintly and opened his mouth.
“I’m expecting it,” he replied.
A new S-rank Hunter had been born and he wasn’t affiliated with anyone. This meant that there was a higher chance of recruiting him than the other S-rank Hunters.
Beyond simply familiarizing himself with some faces, they’ll likely try to include him into their forces.
“They may not interfere with you right now since it’ll soon be mealtime, but they’ll come in droves in just a little while.”
Seol Ah’s prediction wasn’t off. When the feast was over, a game of wits* had begun. (*Probably just a roundabout way of saying that they’re analyzing each other.)
They were all of varying influence and there were several interested parties involved, so they couldn’t easily approach him.
However, the banquet time was limited. They had finished their game of wits, and the first winner had been emerged.
A short man wearing glasses approached Sung Joon and said, “It’s nice to meet you. Mr. Kang Sung Joon, I am Il Sung Group’s Strategic Business Director, Kim Do Hyuk.”
Il Sung Group was South Korea’s first place, top corporation. It possessed a guild by the same name, but their guild was lagging far behind the company’s reputation at 14th place.
Sung Joon didn’t think highly of that. The Il Sung Group’s guild didn’t lack members, but he had heard that due to many cases of embezzlement and corruption, there weren’t many people that joined the guild.
If it weren’t the Il Sung Group, the state would’ve already gotten involved.
“This is my card,” Do Hyuk said, passing his business card to Sung Joon.
“What business does the Il Sung Group have with me…?”
He already knew the reason.
Do Hyuk glanced at Seol Ah once, who was sitting in front of Sung Joon, and returned his attention to Sung Joon. Sporting a good-natured smile, he said, “The Il Sung Group would like to form a good connection with you, Mr. Kang Sung Joon.”
Perhaps Do Hyuk thought that Sung Joon would find it unpleasant, so he wasn’t straightforward. However, considering that he started by introducing the Il Sung Group’s guild, he must’ve wanted to recruit him into their guild.
Do Hyuk left, and as if they had established an order beforehand, a different person approached Sung Joon. He was a member of the National Assembly. Rather than inviting him into a guild, he simply wanted to expand his connections.
“If you join our guild, we’ll give you an executive position, and we’ll give you our complete support.”
Including the Guild Leader Ahn Sung Tae of the 6th ranked guild, Jushin, five guild leaders had imparted a strong impression on him and departed.
When the banquet came to a close, not one person bothered Sung Joon.
“When you return, would you like to leave in my car?”
Seol Ah saw Kyung Chul slowly approaching them and spoke cautiously while looking at Sung Joon.
She continued, “It’s also because I have some things to say too.”
“Are they formal matters?”
The ‘formal matters’ that Sung Joon was referring to were Chairman Yoon Tae Seok’s orders.
“Yes. I also have something to give you.”
“Alright.”
After he had told Kyung Chul that he would leave in a different car, he travelled with Seol Ah. As soon as the two boarded, they departed.
Ten minutes passed in silence.
“Has anyone prepared a present for you for becoming an S-rank Hunter, Mr. Kang Sung Joon?”
Seol Ah was the first to break the silence.
“Did the Chairman prepare it?” Sung Joon asked.
“No. I prepared it separately. It seems as though grandpa isn’t at the stage where he would give you a present,” Seol Ah shook her head and responded.
She took a black case the size of her palm out of her purse. There was an earring inside, embedded with a red gem.
“It’s an item,” Rishubalt said.
It wasn’t a dropped item nor was it an updated* item, so his measuring tool didn’t respond, but Rishubalt notified him. (*I assume this means something like a refurbished item, or an existing item that has been modified/improved.)
“May I appraise it?”
“Of course.”
As soon as Seol Ah nodded her head, Sung Joon took out his measuring tool and appraised the item.
Beep.
The measuring tool rang out with a peculiar mechanical sound and recorded the item’s information.
[Swift Wish]
A-rank.
Verifying Eyesight Reinforcement effect.
Verifying Reflexes Reinforcement effect.
It was an item that would reinforce his eyesight and his reflexes. The abilities were great and it was also an A-rank item as well, so the market price would be at least $4 million.
“It’s a present, just like I said. You’ve accommodated* me all this time, so I’m also thankful… You’ve been promoted so I’m giving this to you.” (*He listened to her complaints and is playing along with her ‘plan’.)
“Is it something like a token of friendship…?” Sung Joon asked.
“Friendship, huh… You can also think of it like that…”
A flash of disappointment momentarily crossed her face, but then disappeared. Because it was so instantaneous, Sung Joon and even Seol Ah herself hadn’t noticed.
They had just conversed briefly, but the car arrived in front of Sung Joon’s studio apartment in no time.
“It was a comfortable ride because of you. Take care.”
“Congratulations again.”
Sung Joon and Seol Ah said their farewells and parted ways.
Sung Joon returned to his studio apartment, showered, and browsed Hunter.com.
[It’s only been around a year or two since he awakened as a Hunter, yet he’s already an S-rank Hunter? He’s got talent.]
[That guy, isn’t he the guy who acted in ‘self-defense’ against Cha Kyu Tae?]
[It seems like he was hiding his strength.]
Due to the magic sword conferment ceremony today, his existence was spread all across the nation. That may have been the reason, but Hunter.com was boisterous today with talk about Sung Joon.
[I’m jealous. I want to become an S-rank Hunter too.]
[Congratulations on becoming an S-rank Hunter!]
There were Hunters who were honestly jealous of him and congratulated him, but…
[Doesn’t he seem like a fraud? He’s the Legend, isn’t he? There’s no way he’s become an S-rank Hunter.]
[It seems like it was fabricated by the government.]
[It seems like they’re doing it to cover up the fact that two of their S-rank Hunters are dead from foreign countries. What a disappointment.]
There were also a group of people who were envious of his success. He wasn’t angry; he just thought that they were hopeless, so Sung Joon shook his head and turned off his computer.
Before he went to bed, he called his father, Soo Hyuk.
“Son! I saw the live broadcast on the TV! I’m so proud of you!”
Hearing his father’s pleased voice, Sung Joon was likewise happy.
